Report: Bad weather, poor vision factors in Rockefeller crash

Updated 9:50 pm, Saturday, June 21, 2014

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller.

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The scene of a plane crash at Cottage Avenue in Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at Cottage Avenue in Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The scene of a plane crash at Cottage Avenue in Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at Cottage Avenue in Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The scene of a plane crash at Cottage Avenue in Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at Cottage Avenue in Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a Westchester County airport Friday morning was Richard Rockfeller, great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. less

The scene of a plane crash at 120 Cottage Ave., Purchase, N.Y., Friday afternoon, June 13, 2014. A Rockefeller family spokesman says the pilot of the small plane who died moments after taking off from a ... more

The report also said the 65-year-old Rockefeller, great-grandson of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller, had restrictions to his pilot's license that required him "to wear corrective lenses for distant vision and possess glasses for near vision" while flying.

Rockefeller died in the crash minutes after he took off from Westchester County Airport on June 13, on his way to Portland, Maine. It was less than a day after he made the same trip for a 99th birthday celebration for his father, David.

The report indicates that when asked by the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control facility inquiring if Rockefeller's plane had taken off or not, a local air traffic controller responded that, "visibility was so low he couldn't tell."

Rockefeller's Piper Meridian single-engine turboprop crashed in the yard of a house on Cottage Avenue in Purchase, N.Y., a hamlet about a mile from New York's border with Greenwich. Rockefeller was the only person on board.

Related Stories

The plane, which narrowly missed a two-story home, collided with trees and terrain before crashing in front of a horse stable where two witnesses gave accounts to investigators.

Examination of the accident site, as well of witness statements, indicates the plane came out of the clouds immediately above trees. The airplane's outboard section of the left wing then struck the first tree, located 60 feet above the ground, and then struck another tree on the inboard section of the same wing.

Witnesses then saw the airplane break apart in a cloud of blue "smoke" that smelled like "diesel" fuel, according to the report.

At the time of the crash the airplane was carrying 60 gallons of Jet-A fuel.

The fuselage had traveled 280 feet down a wreckage path and came to a rest on its left side against a tree. The impact of that crash destroyed the cockpit and instrument panel.

Pieces of trees that where clippes were scattered over the crash site with, a 10-foot length of trunk broken off and carried 50 feet down the wreckage path.

Examination of the site by investigators revealed a strong order of fuel. No evidence of an in-flight or post-impact fire was discovered. All major components of the plane were accounted for.

The plane, which was manufactured in 2001, had recently passed inspection on June 3, 2014, with 1,927 total aircraft hours.

Rockefeller worked as a family physician in Falmouth, Maine. He also practiced and taught medicine in Portland and was involved in a variety of health-related nonprofit activities, according to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

His death impacted the famous family hard at the time.

"It's a terrible tragedy," said Rockefeller family spokesman Fraser Seitel.

Rockefeller held a private certificate that was issued last November and expired on Aug. 1 of this year. He had recorded 5,100 hours of experience on his last medical application.

An engine data acquisition unit and a tablet computer recovered from the wreckage are still being examined by the NTSB.